Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs is a Senior Research Associate in Sustainability at Imagination Lancaster. She is an interdisciplinary researcher at the intersection of environmental sustainability, energy demand, design, and lifestyle change. Currently she is focused on working with organisations to develop new ways to intervene in environmental sustainability issues (e.g. reduce waste, carbon footprint, and energy demand) to create a ‘culture of sustainability’ which is mainstreamed into communities’ everyday life.

She has held her post at Lancaster University's Beyond Imagination since the start of 2020. Before that she was a Lecturer in Sustainable Development for 3 years at the University of St Andrews.

Research

PhD: Home-ing in on Domestic Energy Research

Research Fellowship: Energy Prosumption & Smarter Homes

1st PI project: Is Bigger Better?

Home Comfort & Energy Demand

PhD (2012-2016)

My PhD research centred on domestic energy and low-carbon living; investigating how lifestyle expectations influence, and are influenced, by the physical features of the home. This approach is informed by a growing body of literature on social practice theory and the importance of a socio-technical perspective. Thus, my research moves away from ideas of behaviour change, informed by social-psychology, to thinking more broadly about what energy is for, and in particular asking what comfort means in Scottish homes. Indeed, the meaning of comfort has become an important concept in order to critique the dominant techno-economic approach to meeting demand, yet this is mainly focused on thermal comfort and no research in this context has aimed to empirically study this concept. Thus, my research employed qualitative methods to ask about the meaning of comfort, including the use of household interviews, house tours and drawings. The research was based on speaking to residents of ‘low-carbon’ homes in Fife, Scotland. Read my PhD abstract or full thesis by clicking on these links.

Supporting the ESRC Future Leaders funded research on ‘Smarter homes’, which compares the experience of Dutch and British households living with microgeneration technologies through online research methods. My role has included literature reviews on a range of online research methods and debates, co-organising a two-day international workshop on online methods and household sustainability, and dissemination through peer-reviewed academic journals as well as non-academic outlets (i.e. The Conversation, updating our website). For more information visit https://smarterhomes.wordpress.com/

Is Bigger Better? Comparing expectations of house size in the UK and Australia

1st Project as Principal Investigator (2018-2012)

This project aims to explore changing patterns of house size, space per person and expectation of privacy in the home. Domestic energy research and policy is critiqued by social scientists for being dominated by techno-economic thinking, which overlooks critical social considerations that also impact on energy demand. Despite increasing contributions by sociologists, historians, and geographers to provide more complex and contextual accounts to inform intervention strategies (e.g. challenging the normalisation of thermal comfort as 21C, which local and cultural ways of coping with variation in indoor temperatures) changes in house and household sizes are missing from these debates. Decreasing household sizes and rising space per person significantly influence energy demand per capita, and are widely seen to undermine energy savings from improved energy efficiency. This project will be a first step in a broader programme of work expanding our understanding of changing patterns in space per person, allowing the development of novel strategies for reducing energy demand.

Joined Beyond Imagination at Lancaster University to explore and demonstrate how cutting-edge design research can create a healthier, more prosperous and sustainable world. Funded by Research England, this is a £13.2 million 3-year project.

PhD Students

I currently supervise two PhD students:

Megan Carras (full-time): ‘Tiny house, big impact’: are tiny homes the cure for consumerism? Exploring the Tiny house movement in the United States [completed 2019]

From 2012-2020 I taught at all levels of the SD Programme at the University of St Andrews.

I tutored and lectured undergraduate students within the BSc and MA degrees in Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews. I was involved in curriculum development, most notably restructuring and co-designing an interdisciplinary first year Sustainable Development module. This included working with colleagues from different disciplines: climate science, biology, economics, human geography, population studies, and political science.

I also coordinated my own honours module on 'Society, Sustainable Consumption & Implementing Change' for two semesters.

Living Labs & Theoretical Theatre

One of my main contributions to the Sustainable Development programme has been giving students opportunities for their coursework and studies to contribute practically to sustainability activities in St Andrews and I am a key person at the University of St Andrews working across Schools and professional staff on embedding a ‘Living Labs’ approach. I am also passionate about innovative and engaging pedagogies, employing Gill Seyfang’s ‘theoretical theatre’. This involves ‘acting out’ different theories/debates, in order to bring them to life and demonstrate to student's the value of different theories and perspectives.

Around the world, more people are living with more space at home than at any other time in history. This may be surprising–cramped, dingy rooms are as familiar in Shanghai as they are in London. But on average, the space per person in Chinese homes has increased by about 323 square feet in 40...

PROBABLY MY FAVOURITE PATTER POSTS OF ALL TIME - write a paper in a week Preperations: https://patthomson.net/2015/02/02/writing-workshop-preparations/ Day 1 Introduction: https://patthomson.net/2015/02/03/writing-workshop-the-introduction/ Day 2 Literatures: https://patthomson.net/2015/02/04...

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An active community member

I worked with Transition University of St Andrews from 2010 to 2020 to better embed sustainability initiatives at the University and ensure greater cross over between action and research, including a stronger link with the School of Geography and Sustainable Development. Being active in practical sustainability projects, I helped set up a Transition Initiative in St Andrews in 2011. I was coordinator for two years (Oct 2010- May 2012) and I am now on the Board of Directors for Transition's Community Interest Company. Through my involvement with this Transition Initiative I have been lead and co-author on numerous successful funding bids as well as a member of multiple interview panels. From 2012-2016 I focused on a local bike project, which I founded and coordinated, to create a rental scheme and offer free classes on bicycle maintenance.

I have been active at the University in other capacities beyond research. I was PG representative for my department (2014-2015), a tutor in the Sustainable Development programme (2013-2015) and an Assistant Warden at the University’s largest hall of residence (2013-2016). I have organised a Sustainable Development seminar series (2011) with over 12 presenters and some interactive formats (fish bowl, world cafe) and set up a 'writing group' (following from #AcWriMo and #SUWTuesdays) where we work for two hours regularly writing in the same room as a way to protect writing time and keep up to date on what our colleagues are working on (2014). More recently, Dr Shona Russell and I have organised a symposium on 'Sustainability in the Curriculum' at the University of St Andrews that has led to the formation of a Sustainability Learning and Teaching Committee (2018).